The Columbus Dispatch has kicked off its promotional campaign in advance of next weekend’s big switchover in format from a broadsheet to a “compact.”
I have a few visuals for you today. However, these three TV commercials sum up the project much better than anything else I’ve seen.
Great stuff, is it not?
Clearly, the selling point here is the change in paper size. This diagram — from the promotional campaign — shows the size difference in pages.
The width hardly changes at all. It’s the depth of the page that will be different. Editor Benjamin J. Marrison wrote in a column earlier this summer:
Q. Is this a tabloid?
A. While similar in size to a tabloid, this remains a broadsheet. Tabloids don’t have sections. We will continue to be a sectioned newspaper — one with even more sections every day.
Here is a closer look at a prototype of the new front page. Please excuse the unhelpful labels. This was the best I could do in stealing the image from the paper’s web site today.
On the left, here, is Sunday’s front page. On the right is yet another prototype front page.
From that same Q&A:
Q. Will there be more jumps with the smaller page size?
A. Actually, no. We’re planning to start fewer stories on section fronts in the new format than we do today. With fewer story starts, there will be fewer continuations. We will maintain the number of entry points on the section fronts, though, through story summaries and references to content inside.
Q. The print seems larger; is it?
A. Some think it’s larger, some say smaller. Actually, the typography isn’t changing.
And, somewhat endearingly…
Q. Does it inhibit the creativity of your wonderful headline writers?
A. We don’t believe so. The design was created with more lines of headline type in some cases to allow for clear communication. Besides, our headline writers are so talented that they can do just about anything.
A few new features of the new-and-improved Dispatch…
The Dispatch currently runs an expanded index on page two. The new format will include a “Not to be missed” page, including an index and talkers.
Despite the change, the paper will still be able to break itself up into sections. Here, you see the Nation&World and Metro&State section front prototypes.
In a column this past June, Marrison wrote:
The biggest difference is that we will shift from a section-cover mentality to a more global approach: Every page of the newspaper will be more valuable to readers because the content will be distributed more evenly.
Instead of focusing on the section fronts, which today contain the start of up to six stories, the new format will have up to four (usually three). That means readers will need to go inside the sections for the full news report. The end result is the new Dispatch will provide a better reading experience for our subscribers.
Business will again become its own section front.
Sports, of course, will be a standalone section. This prototype is of the Dispatch‘s Saturday college football section.
Features, too, will be a separate section. On the left is a celebrity gossip page that will run several times a week. On the right is an example of a TV tips page.
Here is the Dispatch‘s new weekend entertainment section.
Food&Life inserts on Wednesdays. At Home will insert on Sundays and will include gardening, home projects and real estate.
The changes kick in with the Monday, Sept. 10 edition. Find the promotional campaign here.
Average daily circulation of the Columbus Dispatch is 136,023.
